Kindler



Dec. 31, 1940.

H. HAFFNER KINDLER Filed July 12, 1938 Patented Dec. 31,

PATENT OFFICE KINDLER Hermann Hafiner, Eerlin-Schoneberg, Germany,assignor to Fritz Elkan, New York, N. Y,

Application July 12, 1938, Serial No. 218,875 in Great Britain July 27,1937 4 Claims.

I This invention relates to an igniting mixture which can be used as afire kindler for igniting coal, coke, and other fuels in domestic firesand industrial furnaces, in furnaces of locomotive and other boilers,and the like.

t is. an object of the invention to provide an improved igniting mixturewhich is more eifective and possesses more rapid action than the firekindlers heretofore used.

To this end, the mixture is composed of particles,such as obtained fromcoal and constituting a material not as readily inflammable incomparison with naphthalene, which forms a more easily inflammablesubstance, the latter encasing or covering said material'together with amineral oil (which is less inflammable than said material) addedthereto.

Fire. kindlers are already known which comprise a porous carrierconsisting of a substance which burnswithout leaving considerableresidue and does not act asan igniting agent, and an impregnating liquidwith which the pores of the carrier are filled. This impregnating liquidis a mixture of substances of different ig- 25 nitibility. In operation,first the readily inflamrnable substances ignite, then by means of thesethe more difficultly inflammable substances, and lastly the mostdifiicultly inflammable ones. Generally, the impregnating liquid is amixture 30 of lowboiling, middle boiling, and high boilinghydro-carbons. By the gradual inflammation of the said substances, theresulting heat becomes more. and more intense until finally the coal, orother fuel, to be ignited is graduallybrought to a state ofincandes-cense and finally commences to burn. In kindlers' of this kind,the

ignition must not occur too rapidly but must extend over an interval oftime whose duration is sufficient for producing the high temperature 40required for igniting a fuel like coal.

The necessity of providing for this comparatively long time intervalbefore the fuel is ignited, is one of the drawbacks of the knownkindlers referred to. Other drawbacks are that it is difficult to selecta proper material for the porous carrier, and. still another drawback isthe difiiculty of properly determining the temperature of theimpregnating liquid. Since the pores of the carrier contain air, thetemperature of the impregnating liquid must not be too high, while, onthe other hand, it must not be too low since in this condition it istaken up by the fine pores of the carrier only with difficulty. Stillanother disadvantage is that the said carrier requires a rather toilsomeand expensive process (Cl. Me-41) of producing, drying and cutting saidcarrier (for instance peat) and that the carrier does not represent anyparticular salorific value, and therefore does not serve as ignitingagent but provides an uneconomical ballast. Furthermore, the enormousabsorbing capacity of carriers, such as peat or the like absorb up tofifteen times its own weight'and leads to an unavoidable expensive wasteof soaked liquid ingredients, which can be only restricted by a fastdiving of the carrier into the liquids; but the adequate amount ofliquid ingredients necessitated for the result contemplated can never beexactly measured when an absorbent carrier is used.

According to the present invention, these drawbacks of the knownkindlers are completely removed by dispensing with the porous carrieraltogether by using exclusively ignitable substances and ingredientswith high calorific values. By compounding the igniting mixture of the 0particles of difficultly inflammable substances, and of the more readilyand less inflammable substance they are covered with, the mixturebecomes incandescent with extraordinary rapidity and sets the fuel onfire in a correspond ingly short time.

In the accompanying drawing, the invention is illustrated by way ofexample only.

Referring now to the drawing, numerals I, 2, and 3, etc, designatedthree different particles consisting of a difficultlyinflammablesubstance, as described, and 4 is the partly more easily and partly lessinflammable substance, or layer, covering the particles. r

In a preferred embodiment of the invention,' the small particles consistof coal waste, or small coal, for instance, pit coal, brown orbituminous coal, anthracite, or the like. The particles have no definiteshape or form and so any desired coal waste may be used, provided itsparticles are not 0 too large as this would diminish the surfaceavailable to the oxygen for combustion. Particles of the size of smallchips up to grains or granules of several millimeters diameter, and up45 to several centimeters long, have proved to be suitable.

The particles are coated with, or embedded in,

a mixture of igniting substances possessing various degrees ofinfiammability, or volatility. For instance, the mixture consists of amineral oil as the less inflammable constituent, and naphthalene as themore readily inflammable constituent. If desired, heavy oil may beadded. Obviously, the several constituents may also be mixtures ofsubstances having the same or similar, properties with respect toinflanmiability.

By these means an igniting mixture is formed which presents anextraordinarily large combustion surface. This large surface permits ofcopious access of oxygen well distributed over the whole mixture whichin quite a short time brings the small pieces of waste or small coalinto a state of incandescence after the more readily inflammablesubstance has been ignited.

The igniting mixture according to the invention may be produced bymixing the coal particles and the more readily inflammable substances,in suitable proportions, in a mixing container at elevated temperature,preferably 60 to 80 centigrade, and stirring the mixture vigorously. Inthis way the readily inflammable or volatile, and the less inflammable,or volatile, substances, to which a suitable heavy liquid agent, oragents, may be added, mix with one another and bind intimately with theparticles which they surround as the partly more readily and partly lessinflammable layer 4. Since the particles are porous to some extent, anyliquid present in the constituents of the layer penetrates into thepores of the particles, but this has not any appreciable influence.

The temperature used is such that the naphthalene will melt and thenwhen the mixture is cooled the naphthalene crystallizes into many minuteparticles which adhere in very small odd shaped bodies. These bodiesbind within themselves the coal slack, coal dust or like maetrial aswell as a small portion of the oil. The vigorous stirring of the mixtureduring heating serves to distribute the coal slack, or

. like material, and the oil and naphthalene in proper proportions. Themixture when heated is a heavy liquid containing coal slack or the likebut upon cooling it rapidly, for example by pouring it into a large panand thus exposing a greater surface to the air, the mixture quicklyassumes the form of small odd shaped bodies. These bodies are hard anddry at ordinary temperatures. I

When the mixture has cooled down, it is ready for use.

The following examples are given:

Example 1 The igniting mixture is compounded as follows, in per cent byweight:

Small or waste coal particles, pit coal, brown Example 3 Waste coal, asin Example 1 '70 Tar oil made from pit or brown coal 5 Naphthalene 25 Byheavy oil is understood an oil having a very high specific gravity andwhich requires a relatively high temperature to inflame the same. Suchparticular heavy oils are used for instance in heavy oil motors.

I claim:

1. A kindler comprising a granular igniting mixture of finely dividedsolid ignitible material, oil, and naphthalene, said material beingpresent in mixed oil and naphthalene at a ratio of approximately to 30%by weight, said naphthalene enclosing said material and said oil, saidoil being less ignitible than said material, said material and said oilbeing less readily ignitible than said naphthalene, said naphthaleneforming the predominant constituent of said mixed oil and naphthalenewhich both cover said solid material.

2. A kindler comprising a granular igniting mixture of coal wastematerial, mineral oil, and naphthalene, said naphthalene enclosing saidmaterial and said oil, said oil being less ignitible than said material,said material and said oil being less readily ignitible than saidnaphthalene, said naphthalene and said oil being present in said mixturein respective proportions of approximately 25% and 5% by weight of thecombined weight of the coal waste material, mineral oil and naphthaleneto combinedly coat said coal material.

3. A method of preparing a kindler in granular form which consists inmixing solid particles of ignitible material with naphthalene and oil,said material being present in said mixed naphthalene and oil at a ratioof approximately 70% to 30% by weight and being more readily ignitiblethan said oil, heating said mixture until said naphthalene is melted,agitating said mixture vigorously, and thereafter cooling the mixturewhereby said naphthalene crystallizes out thereby producing hardgranules each containing particles and oil enclosed by naphthalene.

4. A kindler comprising a granular igniting mixture of solid particlesof coal material, oil less readily ignitible than said coal material,and naphthalene more readily ignitible than both said material and saidoil, said naphthalene enclosing said particles and said oil, saidnaphthalene and said coal material being present in said mixtureapproximately in proportions of 17% to 25% by weight and 70% by weight,respectively, the remainder of said mixture being oil.

HERMANN HAFFNER.

